Collections of data are only useful when a system for viewing or analyzing the data is available. For example, the results of surveys can generate complex data relationships. In order to analyze the relationships and to gather meaningful data from the survey results, the data are often displayed in a grid having two axes. Each axis includes desired parameters. At the intersection of each parameter from first axis and each parameter from the second axis, a value is displayed that indicates the number of people that fit in the category defined by the parameter of the first axis and the parameter of the second axis. For example, the parameter of the first axis may be all respondents that are male and the parameter of the second axis may be all respondents that indicated that they liked peanuts.
The identifications of which parameters should be displayed along each axis are typically accomplished by inputting parameter identifiers (e.g., codes). For example, to request that the Male parameter be added, a user would determine the identifier for Male (e.g., 139X) and input the parameter identifier. If a user wanted to develop a complex query, they would need to keep track of all of the parameter identifiers and the parsing order. For example, a parameter combination using 8 parameters could be: 139X!1222!1512!(214!512!(211!221!421)). Due to the complexity of entering and understanding parameter combinations, developing complex information displays is difficult and time consuming.